Toy Maker
by Tigerdust
Summary: Rage!verse fic. Set a few issues after Icetina. Rage, Zephyr, and Disco encounter a new enemy. Disco is my QAF oc translated into the infamous Rage comics. Please enjoy and clarify if need be, info was scarce about the Rage comic.


"We have a visitor." Rage set down his mug of Kona blend on the coasters that JT had found at Crater's Barrel.

Disco leaned against the sill of the open window, the clear and bright morning just behind him. "What? You've developed super sensory powers too?"

Rage blinked, smirking at one of the few other heroes immune to his charm. "No. You set off the alarm."

Zephyr took his cue to walk into the room with the hunky archaeologist not far behind. The tent in his lycra uniform was just beginning to go down, meaning that there had been some morning activities before the super door had slid to the side so they could enter.

"Disco!"

Disco flashed a smile, jumping down from the ledge of the window, the part of his widows peak shaking as he hit the floor. He enveloped Zephyr in a hug while his super pal's bright eyes shone. "Hey Zeph! It feels like its been ages!"

Disco pulled back in sigh, looking in Ben's direction and taking his hand warmly as he was still half-hugging Zephyr. "How was your trip? Did you see Priest back to Metropolis okay?"

Disco nodded, finally dislodging himself from the hugs of Zephyr and Ben enough to thankfully procure himself a cup of coffee from near where JT sat on the counter of the open kitchen. "Yep. He still wasn't comfortable with the flying scenario, but he got over it. I just reminded him what he was going back too."

JT shook his head. "I don't know what he sees in Grayson."

Disco shrugged in return, clinking the glass in a toast. "I don't either. That kids got a lot of issues to work out with the Bats, but Priest is gonna be happy and that's important. Lost of work for him in Gotham and he was happy to take the bus from Metropolis to get there."

Rage flipped the next page of his morning paper. "Why the pit stop in Metropolis then? Its less than a day mid-air."

Disco slid into a seat between Ben and Zephyr. "Sure glad to be home. I hate traveling, even if it is with a long lost brother."

Zephyr nodded. "We all know how much you'll miss him, but Gotham isn't so far away for you."

Disco brushed away the thought of travel with his hand. "Nah. The month we spent together was good, enlightening for us both. But we're both pretty different and so it's probably best this way. Last thing we need to be is two super bitches."

Rage took a sip of coffee. "Lord knows we could all use a bit less of that. You ignored my question though."

Disco sighed, looking at Rage unfazed by those fantastic charming powers. "You just don't know how to dance around a subject properly."

Ben interjected with concern. "You don't look very well rested."

Disco's face became very stony. "Its not from too many villain battles, if that's what your fishing for Ben." Zephyr's brow furrowed beneath his mask, Disco noticing the worry lines. "I stopped in Angeles City on the way back for a rest. I..."

JT snorted. "You're afraid to tell us about a guy?"

Disco shot JT a look. "It's not just a guy."

Zephyr and Rage exchanged looks and shared a mutual. "Oh."

Disco shook his head. "Oh, Shut up! It wasn't that either."

Ben reached over to take Disco's hand under his own, kneading the young hero's knuckles in a mentor gesture. "Either way, we're happy for you."

"So what's he like?"

"That's kinda personal JT." Disco's face went stony again, as though he were having a flashback. "I will say that he's a lot like my brother's taste, just older."

JT jumped down from the counter, hand slipping over Rage's chest. "Well, there is something quite exciting about older men."

Rage smirked, inhaling. "I'd be careful about what you say around this one. He's liable to get himself into some trouble."

JT found himself being pulled onto his super lover's lap. "That's one sort of trouble I'd be happy to get in."

"We should all be so lucky to have that kind of trouble." Disco's off-hand comment seemed to still the room. "What I say?"

Zephyr gulped before looking Disco in the eye. "You've still been evading the Metropolis question. Even if you had a tryst with Superman, you'd be dropping hints by now."

Disco feigned a look of shock. "That boy scout! Please, he wishes he could have this fabulous and fine hero body. No, just a small thing. Circus disappearances, slightly blinding by one of those advertising spot lights. Nothing major. Nothing major at all."

Rage grimaced, sliding out from under JT. "A little tip, Disco. Never get captured for interrogation. You're really bad at lying." JT jumped up, blocking the door before Rage could exit. "You're ruining my dramatic exit."

JT nodded. "I know. You're not going without me."

Rage bit his lip, weighing the pros the cons of JT's presence. "Oh no. I'll chain you to the bed if you try to do that again."

"Promises, promises. But that would be afterwards." JT crossed his arms defiantly.

Disco drained his cup, heading for the window before JT and Rage got into another pointless argument. He stopped for a moment, turning back to Zephyr. "Am I missing something here?"

Rage snapped his head. "It's nothing."

JT snorted. "It's not nothing if you're trying to leave quickly."

Ben filled in the blanks. "There's a circus in town this week, straight from a booking in Gotham, Metropolis, Angeles, and Coast City. We're the last stop for the tour."

JT shouted a little louder and with less patience. "Why won't you let me go?"

"Somebody's gotta clean up the dishes sweetie and have some lunch ready for when we get back." Rage had his teeth clenched now, trying to drip politeness to his young lover.

"I'm nobody's maid." JT stared daggers at Rage.

Ben tried to interject. "I'm not going, JT. We can't put ourselves at too much of a risk. Someone's gotta be waiting for the heroes when they get back."

Disco leapt up to the sill and looked back before tossing himself into a nearby wind current. "And you boys wonder why I'm still unattached."

Rage put his hands on his hips. "See? He shouldn't have a better exit quip than the main attraction."

Later that same day, they walk silently through the hall of mirrors. Zephyr holds a cotton candy in one hand while he looks around for incriminating evidence with his sharp senses and Rage leads the way in case its a trap. Disco is the underestimated one and the newcomer, so he guesses that he just fits in the middle somewhere.

"I think this was a waste of time." Disco hisses just low enough for the boys to hear.

"Nonsense." Rage and Zephyr murmur in unison.

"Nothing is coincidence in our world." Zephyr quotes one of his pals from the Titans while Rage halts the procession.

"I hear someone coming."

We stop still, blinking only when necessary. The darkness never changes, shadows not illuminating. After a few minutes, Disco lets out a breath. "Come on, let's go."

"Good God!"

Disco jumps a bit as Zephyr's voice from behind goes somewhat hysterical.

"What is it?"

Disco blinks as he looks at Zephyr's reflection in the mirror. Or something to that matter. It's not really a reflection. Well, Disco isn't quite sure what he is seeing.

"Whatever it is is working wonders." Rage smirks.

Disco is confused. On the one hand, Zephyr is looking at a clown being taunted by children as he tries to hand them balloons. On the other, Rage is wearing a suit and a tie without a mask and ordering people around a room with some advertising boards all around.

"It's just a hall of mirror guys."

"It's more like a hall of nightmares!" Zephyr comments. "I mean, just look at this. Can you even imagine what this might be?"

Disco barely hears the footsteps approaching, grateful to see what seems to be a harmless old man in a bow tie appear. "Are you enjoying my mirrors, gentlemen of Gayopolis?"

Disco walks past Rage, who is preening in front of what he is sure is his own reflection. "Are these your mirrors?"

The old man bows, removing his bowler and losing about two inches from his height. "Guilty as charged. Call me Geary. I'm an old toy maker and I made these mirrors."

Disco blinks. "I see. They're quite unexpected. What are they showing my friends?"

Geary chuckles to himself. "Merely a possibility. You understand about possibilities, don't you Disco? Isn't that what you told that fellow in Angeles City?"

Disco's fingers grip into a fist. "How do you know my name or about Angeles city?"

Geary's smile becomes wide, very wide. He straightens his bow tie before pushing a button on his watch. "It's quite simple. You are a masterpiece and a toy maker always wants to see what's making the toy tick inside."

His maniacal laugh gives him away as a panel slides down between Disco and the Toy Maker. Disco is startled and slightly panicky from the possibility of being trapped. But he would only be worried if Rage and Zephyr were under any sort of spell of their own. It's too bad they are.

Disco has to admit that he likes what he sees in the mirror. Its him, albeit a bit of a Bernadette Peters ham. Its him, reclining on a piano in a sizzling black number singing one of Breathless Mahoney's songs. Dick would be proud of him. But Dick's old now, out of the game. He wasn't the one in Angeles City, but he had been a friend in a time long ago.

The thought of Dick snaps Disco from his reverie. The image is strong, alluring. Disco wants to settle into it. His brain desperately tries to boil away at the apathy. The song ends and starts again. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he feels a change in tempo. A new song begins. Disco's mind is distracted, being torn into. Rage and Zephyr are powerless as well, in their own way.

Disco's restless mind is the key. He hits on a solution. One single quote that he finds, memorized, in the recesses of his mind. It was one of the Sugar Heroines during the Georgia fire fight. It was a verbal whiplashing that gave him strength, lent force to his aura and voice. It broke the spell and gave Disco the lung capacity to scream. He broke every mirror in the place.

The trio walked away from the trap to find the carnival and patrons abandoned. There was not a soul in sight, the occupants of Gayopolis sometimes famous for their short attention spans. It was very much like living in any hero city in that world. Leave it to Rage to end the day swimmingly.

"Well, at least we know that mouth of yours is good for something."


End file.
